Now it it's 22nd year, The Mike Nowak Show is all about gardening, the environment and green living on Chicago Radio and Television. For a decade, Mike hosted WGN Radio's "Let's Talk Gardening", leading to a 7-year expansion on WCPT and Que4 Radio. In early 2017, Mike and company made the move to 1590 WCGO with his live show, every Sunday morning from 9:00AM to 11:00AM. Along the way, he's also co-hosted the popular TV gardening and cooking show "Dig In Chicago". Mike also appears on WGN-TV, CBS 2 Chicago and the DIY Network. When he's not in the studios doing his show, Mike is often seen throughout Chicagoland working with various food co-ops, gardening centers, sustainable living programs and teaching our community to live better through responsible farming, gardening and environmental consciousness.

Co-host Peggy Malecki has, for the past eight years, published Natural Awakenings Chicago magazine, an independent monthly publication focused on living a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle. Living green is important to Peggy, who strives to incorporate sustainable habits into her everyday life and teach others to do the same.

Although she grew up on the northwest side of Chicago, Peggy says she spent countless childhood hours with her grandparents in then-small-town Antioch, IL, learning how to compost, grow veggies without chemicals and appreciate the outdoors. She currently lives and gardens in the suburbs, and still spends lots of time in the city.

In prior business incarnations, Peggy specialized in marketing, technical and process documentation, training development and delivery and product and project management. She’s also developed website content, penned newsletters, chaired national sailing regattas and published a sailing magazine. An avid sailor, Peggy was the first (and only) woman commodore and board president of the North Shore Yacht Club, and served as a Lakefront Commissioner with the City of Highland Park. She is also a Highland Park beach captain for the annual Adopt-A-Beach clean-up.

Podcasts

Teresa Speight from talks about passing along her passion for gardening. Joel Karsten explains why Straw Bale Solutions have become popular. Marcy Cravat returns to the One Earth Film Festival with a documentary about our hopes for sequestering carbon.

Certified arborist David Story from Bartlett Tree Experts talks about winter care and answers tree questions. Crate Free Illinois founder Jessica Chipkin and Josh Richards from The Humane League preview a screening of the documentary film Eating Animals.

Claudia West and Benjamin Vogt talk about the concept of plant communities. Nick Lucas of AUA previews the 7th Annual Urban Livestock Expo. Tom Szaky from TerraCycle explains how the Loop program could exponentially increase packaging reuse.

The Chicago Botanic Garden’s Lisa Hilgenberg has seed choosing and starting tips. Lan and Pam Richart from Eco-Justice Collaborative follow up on efforts to protect the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River in Central Illinois from coal ash contamination.

Commissioner Debra Shore describes the challenges facing the MWRD as it copes with the uncertainty of climate change. Susan Martin and Laura Deeter preview the Perennial Plant Symposium at The Morton Arboretum.

Landscaper David Pearling tells you how to plan a simple, effective garden design with five simple rules. Civic educator and warrior Tom Tresser talks about fighting for open spaces and community justice in Chicago.

On the Christmas Show, the Not-Ready-for-Anytime-Anywhere-Players help Mike and Peggy perform It’s A Wonderful Slice of It’s A Wonderful Life. On the serious side, Judy Pollock stops by to report on the Audubon’s 119th Christmas Bird Count.